1. Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed broadly relates to methods for providing Internet services and more particularly relates to improvements in mobile device accessing of Internet services.
2. Background Art
Mobile phones and wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs) are able to access the Internet using the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). WAP-enabled wireless devices can now access Internet applications such as headline news, exchange rates, sports results, stock quotes, weather forecasts, multilingual phrase dictionaries, personal online calendars, online travel and banking services, or download distinctive ringing tones. Broadband wireless networks make it possible for WAP-enabled wireless devices to exchange multimedia messages that combine conventional text with much richer content types, such as photographs, images, voice clips, and video clips. WAP-enabled wireless devices can be used to pay bills online using the wireless device as a virtual wallet. WAP-enabled wireless devices can deliver useful and informative advertising and transaction services from online merchants. WAP-enabled wireless devices now also provide entertainment services, such as interactive adventure games, quizzes, and chess tournaments.
What is needed is the ability of a mobile phone or wireless PDA to use context inference techniques to sense the mobile user""s environment and in response, to provide useful information to the user that is appropriate to the user""s perceived environment. It would be even more useful to offload some of the computationally intensive computing necessary in context inference techniques, from the mobile user""s wireless device to a server and to web sites on the Internet. It would be beneficial to maintain a personal profile of the mobile user""s personal preferences in an online server or web site. It would be important to provide the mobile user with the ability to control any access to the user""s profile by the online server or web site.
The context sensitive web services invention enables a mobile phone or wireless PDA to use context inference techniques to sense the user""s environment and in response, to provide useful information to the user that is appropriate to the user""s perceived environment.
One aspect of the invention is a method to enable a wireless device to provide useful information to its user that is appropriate to the device""s current environment. The method includes the steps of receiving sensor signals characterizing a current environment of the wireless device; processing the sensor signals with a context inference engine; outputting a current context result from the processing by context inference engine; and providing useful information to the user in response to the current context result. The processing of the sensor signals with a context inference engine is embodied as programmed instructions executed within the user""s wireless device. In another aspect of the invention, the processing of the sensor signals with a context inference engine is embodied as programmed instructions executed within a separate network server in response to signals from the user""s wireless device. The server can access files from a web server, for selective forwarding to the user""s wireless device. A personal profile of the user can be maintained by the server.
A further aspect of the invention provides user control of access by application programs to the user""s private data. This can also include providing user control of access by application programs to the user""s private data in the server. Still further, this can also include providing user control of access by application programs in a web server, to the user""s private data.
Another aspect of the invention is providing the current context result to an application program in response to the user control and receiving the useful information from the application program. The invention enables the user to grant access permission to the application program to access the current context result. This can be performed in the user""s wireless device or in the network server. The network server can carry out the control of access by application programs in web servers, in response to a user privacy profile received from the user""s wireless device.